Need For Services Is Deltona Issue

January 25, 1987|By Lorena Oropeza of The Sentinel Staff

DELTONA — More police protection, better roads and even a branch office to conduct county business will probably appear in Deltona even if incorporation is voted down, a county council member said Friday.

Roy Schleicher, whose district includes Deltona, said a four-month study on incorporation completed last week raises issues that cannot be ignored.

''If incorporation does not happen, the study has raised issues that the county has to address,'' Schleicher said. ''There's a need for more local government services.''

Opening a branch office of the county government would mean Deltona residents would not have to drive to DeLand to obtain building permits and occupational licenses, Schleicher said. The branch office also could handle simple zoning matters.

The feasibility study concluded Deltona could generate more than enough money to become a city. Members on the committee agreed at the onset that they would like to see more police protection and road maintenance than Deltona now receives from the county. The committee members included these costs in the study.

Schleicher said if incorporation fails these increased services could be funded through the Deltona Municipal Service District. The district has an appointed board that advises the county about Deltona matters.

But it is unlikely the MSD board members would ever be elected, Schleicher said. ''The county council can not give away its authority. Even if the MSD members were elected, the MSD would still be an advisory board,'' he said.

''You would incur the cost of an election without expanding the ability of the board.''

As a county council member, Schleicher is the only elected official who is responsible to Deltona residents on the local level. His district stretches across the southern end of the county to New Smyrna Beach.

Eventually, Deltona may receive more direct representation on the county council, he said. The county redraws the five district boundaries of the council members every 10 years at the time of the census.

Because the southwest portion of the county has experienced rapid growth, a county district may be drawn in 1990 that almost exclusively covers the Deltona area, he said.

Schleicher said the nine Deltona residents who were appointed by the county council to conduct the study, have ''taken a step from which there's no turning back.''